Prahok
| Prahok | |
|---|---|
| Khmer name | ប្រហុក |
| Also known as | prahoc; prohok; prohoc |
| Practice type | Foodway |
| Usual occasion | December to January |
| Subjects | Food & Foodways |
Prahok is a food tradition practised in Cambodia and Khmer communities. (Wikipedia)
Practice
Prahok is made by removing the heads, scales and entrails from fish, washing and drying them, mixing them with coarse salt, pounding them, and packing the mixture into jars to ferment. The paste is commonly eaten with rice, used in soups and fish amok, or prepared as dips and other sauces. Fermented fish liquid removed during ripening may also be used as fish sauce. (Wikipedia; Khmer Times)
History
The supplied sources describe prahok as a preservation practice that developed when seasonal fish were abundant and refrigeration was unavailable. BBC Travel places its importance in Cambodian food culture as far back as the Angkorian era, from the ninth to the fifteenth century. In Battambang, Phsar Prahok has been producing and selling it since the 1990s. (Wikipedia; Khmer Times)
Variations
Methods differ according to the fish used, including small cyprinid fish, mud carp, snakehead and other larger fish; some producers also make prahok from freshwater prawns. Fermentation is described as lasting about one month in household accounts, while one Battambang producer describes a process of about two weeks. It may be eaten raw, steamed, sautéed, grilled or covered in banana leaves and cooked. (Wikipedia; Khmer Times)
Communities and practitioners
Families, household producers, fishermen and market vendors across Cambodia maintain the practice, including producers in Battambang and along the Mekong. It is especially central to rural Cambodian households and is also prepared by contemporary Khmer chefs. (Wikipedia; Khmer Times)